Renegade Path

Pride that was almost painful spread through my chest. “Good job, kid.”

“I promised Pip some of those brownies I made last night.” Juliet squinted at me, a playful smile teasing at the corners of her mouth. “You didn’t eat them all, did you?”

“You hid them on me,” I accused.

Her lips twitched. “Maybe.”

She tilted her head, inviting Pip to follow her into the kitchen. He stepped lightly, almost tiptoeing, like he was afraid to leave a trace of his visit.

I sat at the kitchen table with them. While he may have been glad to see me, Pip focused most of his attention on Juliet, peppering her with questions. She helped him with an assignment for history class while he snacked on brownies.

It was a nice afternoon.

“Thank you.” I curled my arm around Juliet’s shoulders once Pip had gone home.

“He asks about you all the time.” She angled her head to look up at me. “I hope it was okay—”

“It’s your house. You can invite whoever you want over.”

Anger lit up her eyes. “It’s not my house. It’s our house.”

“You know what I mean.”

We rarely fought but when we did, it was about me finding a job. Juliet wanted me to enroll in classes at the local community college. I knew whatever Mrs. Shields had left Juliet was for her education, not mine. I’d find a job, eventually.

Turned out, not a lot of places were eager to hire a juvenile delinquent with a GED and limited skills.

We set that aside for the winter break. Too many crappy holidays as children, and the desire to feel like adults, led us to do the minimum. It wasn’t until the day before Christmas Eve that we got around to putting up a tree.

She stood back, admiring the undecorated evergreen taking up a quarter of the living room. “Now that it’s here, I kind of like it.”

“It smells nice.” I shrugged and handed her a string of lights. Besides all the tools, I’d unearthed a large collection of holiday decorations in the garage.

Juliet studied the green wiry strand she was holding. “It’s weird, I don’t remember them decorating a lot during the holidays. I think Mrs. Shields would hang a Santa on the door and some bells and that was it.”

“Maybe after their daughter moved out, they didn’t bother decorating.” I glanced at the boxes we’d dragged into the living room. “It’s a lot of work.”

“I feel bad. If I’d known they had all this stuff, I would’ve helped her.” She scowled in the direction of the front door. “My aunt and uncle certainly never bothered to do anything.”

“Hey.” I curled my fingers around hers, loosening her grip on the lights. “We’ll make our own traditions now. If you want to light up every inch of the house, we’ll do it. If you’d rather string up purple lights instead of red, white, and green, we can do that too.”

One corner of her mouth curled up. “Purple? Where are we going to find purple lights?”

“You want purple? I’ll find you purple.”

“Nah.” She stretched the lights between us and started lacing them through the tree branches. “Turquoise. That’s my color.”

Even though Juliet liked to cook, I was determined to learn a few skills of my own. For Christmas Eve, I made lasagna and didn’t burn down the house. We were finishing up when someone knocked on the front door.

We both stared at it like a serial killer was waiting on the other side.

“I’ll get it.” I pushed away from the table. “Stay here.”

I peered through the small window and blew out a relieved breath. “It’s Dex,” I said over my shoulder.

I opened the door and his eyes widened. He stepped back and leveled a stern stare at me. I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my head.

“Uncle Dex! You’re back.” Juliet rushed past me to hug him.

I stepped aside for him to come in the house. He shoulder-checked me as he walked by.

And here I thought we were old pals.

“We were just finishing dinner. Roman made the most amazing lasagna. There’s still some left if you’re hungry. I made cheesecake too.” Juliet chattered at him a mile a minute, either not noticing or ignoring his frosty attitude toward me.

“Sure,” Dex answered slowly. “I can’t stay long, though. I have to work tonight.”

“On Christmas Eve?” Juliet protested.

“One of the busiest nights in the entertainment industry.”

I snorted. Entertainment. Please.

Other than that slight lapse, I was quiet while he and Juliet caught up. I sipped my coffee and bided my time.

Juliet stood and rested her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

Dex watched her leave, then zeroed in on me. “Are you living with her now?”

“What’s your issue?”

“My issue is you taking advantage of her.”

Damn if he didn’t know right where to poke. My confident attitude slipped. “I’m not taking advantage.”